


silent laughter

by leothequeenn



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: But whatever, M/M, Moreid, bc yeeeeessss, coffeeshop!Reid, coffeeshop!au, mute!Reid, sorry - Freeform, this is my first CM fanfic, this one guy's like kinda rude
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-02
Updated: 2015-06-02
Packaged: 2018-04-02 11:12:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4057858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leothequeenn/pseuds/leothequeenn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was a lot of animated talking going on, a lot of conversations between people and a lot of lip-syncing going on from people with headphones, but one boy remained quiet throughout the busy cafe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	silent laughter

**Author's Note:**

> okay this is attempt #3 at a criminal minds fic...more specifically a moreid fic...so don’t kill me! im so scared im gonna mess something up lmao. i'm finally posting this one!  
> okay and yes i did need to have a mute!reid because why not. though i love when he just blurts out some random but related fact.  
> also mgg is really pretty. just kinda...throwin that out there.

Derek needed coffee. Badly. Staying up at three AM reading case files had him ready to hit the hay, but of course, it never came. Why? He wasn’t quite sure, even though he figured it had to do with the last case since it was a bit harsher on him than JJ or Prentiss. So coffee at seven AM was the way to go.

As he willed himself out of a bed he didn’t even sleep in, he got dressed (sweatpants and a loose t-shirt with a leather jacket didn’t look too good, but maybe he could go to the gym?) and made his way down to his car, getting himself inside before he could rethink his decision and head back to bed.

He drove himself to the Starbucks they had in town, and Derek had contemplated multiple times whether he should go inside or stick with the drive-thru they had. It was seven AM and a Saturday, so he could spend as much time as he wanted there, going inside and saying hello to the people he knew working there.

But, there was also that nagging thought in his head that he could just grab a coffee from the drive-thru and make his way to the gym to get his morning workout over with so he could go home, shower, and try to get some more sleep. It would mean his sleeping schedule would fuck up, but hey, it’s already fucked up as it is.

Figuring he was just wasting enough time already, he just decided to step inside anyway. He parked his car in one of the free parking spaces and got out of the vehicle, walking inside of the coffee shop. Immediately, he was hit with the smell of coffee beans and sweet treats, the buzzing sounds of busy people working and talking and making coffee. And frankly, Derek kinda liked it (not that he would ever tell JJ or Prentiss -- or even Garcia).

There was an older, stern (maybe, Derek couldn’t see him from the front but his voice completely showed it) man standing in front of him whenever he moved to get into line. The man was ordering with such authority it almost made Derek think of work, and how he shouldn’t be thinking about work on a Saturday.

Derek focused on the boy receiving the order, stepping off to the side a little to watch how he reacted to the authoritative man. There wasn’t any eye contact involved, and the boy seemed to shake as he typed in the order. Derek watched him, watched him as the boy then, without a word, tapped a small screen in front of the register, which happened to show the total of the order. He heard the man sigh and watched quietly as the man handed the boy his credit card he had in his hands.

Derek figured he wouldn’t spend too much time on watching that, so he busied himself with the menu. What did he want? What would he want, anyway? Maybe just a simple coffee, double shots of espresso. Or maybe just the same about of shots, but just with a mocha instead? That sounded a lot better.

He also added that to the list of things he wouldn’t dare tell the girls, ever -- men can get mochas. It wasn’t like he was ordering some fruity drink, like a strawberry creme frappe or something.

Shit, now that sounded good.

There was a moment of hesitation going through his mind, since he needed the caffeine the mocha offered, but he did want something really, really sweet.

He was pulled out of his thoughts, though, as the same, stern, old man harshly stated, “what’s a man gotta do to get some ‘you’re welcome’s and actual greetings and answers around here? Instead all I get is a lazy teenager who doesn’t even--”

“Sir.” Derek cleared his throat, causing the man’s attention to go to him instead of the boy. “Go sit and wait for your coffee to be done.” He hated getting involved in things that didn’t really target him, specifically, but he couldn’t help it. It was just his _thing_ and he got involved and now he was involved and maybe that was why he was a good agent. Maybe.

When there was no response or movement from the man, Derek glanced over at the kid behind the register. His face was lowered, like suddenly the buttons on the register were more interesting than anything else in the world. His hands were shaking.

Derek shook his own head a little. He didn’t want to start profiling him, but now he couldn’t stop. He could see dark circles under the boy’s eyes -- so clearly, he wasn’t lazy. The boy had too many buttons -- Star Trek, among other things -- that were on his apron, next to his name tag which was covered in star stickers and heart stickers and any other stickers that Garcia herself would’ve loved. It almost looked as if though she had actually decorated it.

His name was Spencer.

Derek had to focus on something else, instead of how the boy shook underneath his long sleeve shirt. “You’re scaring the poor kid.” That something else just may be scolding the adults instead. Nice. “You’re complaining about no manners when, at the same time, you lost your own. Now go sit and wait patiently, _sir_ , for your coffee.”

The man looked like he wanted to say something else toward him, but Derek kept a small scowl on his face, which seemed to convince the man to step off to the side and wait quietly for his coffee.

When Derek was sure the man had stepped out of earshot and was waiting, he turned and watched as the boy behind the counter gave the copy of the receipt of the older man’s order to a smaller, brunette girl passing by toward the place where the drink-making began. He noticed her name tag said Kate, and he remembered seeing her before, maybe the last time he went there through drive-thru. He, however, turned his attention back to Spencer as the boy did to him, whenever Kate started working on the angry man’s order.

Derek quietly, but in an amused tone, whispered out, “hey kid. Don’t worry. Some people are just cranky when they haven’t had their shots of espresso in the morning.” The kid, Spencer, laughed and was completely silent as he did so. He looked up, nodding his head at the older man. Derek gave a smile back to him, and he almost wanted to wink but he figured that would be a little too much for now.

Spencer then blinked, bringing attention to his eyes and Derek had to distract himself, had to look up at the menu to keep from staring at the caramel colored irises.

“Um, I’ll have a venti… chocolate mocha… double shots of espresso,” he mumbled a bit, stuffing his hands into his leather jacket pockets. At least he wasn’t ordering a pumpkin spice latte since it wasn’t that time of year yet. But he was always a bit self-conscious ordering there, especially during fall, since it was always seen as some girl thing. Or at least that was what he’d always tell Garcia, even whenever she’d question him saying, ‘is that a pumpkin spice latte?’ and he’d always have to respond with, ‘weird, dunno how it got here’. Even though he did. Whatever. It was just coffee. Maybe bringing Garcia in there next time would help.

Why was he even thinking about this right now? That’s kind of lame. He instead watched how Spencer tapped the buttons on the register and hesitantly pointed to the small screen in front of the register, showing him the total. Derek just simply paid and Spencer handed him back his card and his receipt cautiously.

“Thanks,” Derek grinned, placing his card and the slip of paper into his wallet before putting that into his sweatpants pocket. He caught a glance at the younger boy and Spencer stared back like he was afraid he was going to get yelled at again, or something. Instead, Spencer gave a little nod to show he acknowledged the _thank you_ he received, and Derek stepped away with a smile on his face to wait for his coffee.

The old man was gone, was leaving as Derek walked past him to stand in the spot the angry man was standing in just seconds before. He was glad he was able to settle the dispute between the two, even if it were for a little bit. He really hoped the man didn’t come back, and if he did, he would be nice about it. Though it was kind of strange how the boy didn’t speak.

Derek looked around the cafe instead, looking at all of the pictures and people they had in the place. There was a lot of computer screens open, a lot of busy people working hard to match the commotion going on behind the counter. There was a lot of animated talking going on, a lot of conversations between people and a lot of lip-syncing going on from people with headphones, but one boy remained quiet throughout the busy cafe and that one boy remained the focal point in the back of Derek’s mind. If that even made sense. As he was glancing around, he noticed that Spencer wasn’t at the register, but some other lady was working there and he watched as the boy came out of the back room, grabbed a slip of paper from a machine by the register and he continued to watch as the boy applied the sticky slip of paper onto a cup. He realized by now from the shy smile of the boy that Spencer was working on _his_ coffee. _His_ mocha with double espresso shots. Not Kate. Not that lady working at the register now, but Spencer. He almost felt a little honored.

He laughed it off though, but in the back of his mind he knew this would not be the last of this kid, and he also knew that he would be the death of him.

He turned to look at the little pictures on the wall as Spencer continued to make the mocha, putting some whipped cream and chocolate drizzle on it before closing it up with a lid. Derek hadn’t realized the boy had taken a sharpie and started writing on it, which even furthered the idea that Spencer didn’t like to talk. At all. Not a word or even a sound was present from him because even the laugh was silent! Maybe that was why the man got so frustrated, Spencer didn’t greet him or whatever because he didn’t talk.

He was cut out of his thoughts again as Spencer held the cup out for him, having Kate say his name to make sure he was completely aware that the boy finished with his mocha. Maybe this was why he needed Garcia there. So he wouldn’t continue spacing out about this quiet kid. Soon, though, Derek was out the door with his mocha and one last, “thank you.”

Though, it took him until he got to his car to realize how weirdly special that ‘quiet kid’ really was. He opened the door, getting inside and getting settled before closing the door, and that was when he caught it. There was writing on the cup. He inspected it closely, noticing six little boxes followed by a tiny note underneath them, scrawled out in messy handwriting:

 _Thorium, Nitrogen, Potassium, Yttrium, Oxygen, Uranium_.

Spencer had even correctly filled the elements with the rest of their atomic numbers and such, like the boy had memorized the entire periodic table. He however, managed to spell out the words _THNK YOU_ and on the side, there was the tiny little note, the handwriting a bit more frantic, like he didn’t want to waste any more of Derek’s time:

 _‘there was no element that I could use to correctly spell out THANK, so I just shortened it? thanks though, for that. -Spencer’_.

Derek rolled his eyes. The boy knew a freaking periodic table off the top of his head.

But just to make sure… he pulled out his phone, quickly typing in _Thorium_ , checking the atomic number that Spencer put down and he sighed when everything matched up. Atomic number, 90. Atomic mass, 232.038. To the thousandths place, that kid got it. He even checked the rest of the elements he had listed, and they were correct. All of them. Derek laughed. Of course he knew chemistry to the bone, of course he did. Derek wondered if he could (or if it would be too cheesy) to write out ‘no problem’ or ‘you’re welcome’ in elements as some sort of response back.

And, as he drove home, he couldn’t help but smile as he sipped his drink.

**Author's Note:**

> so i hope you enjoyed! yes i love chemistry. can't you tell. i have my own periodic table. pocket-sized. lmao.  
> so i'm sorry this is what you get for a first time criminal minds fic but i'm not the best with writing criminal things so i hope this is good enough. sorry if i got any of the characters wrong :(


End file.
